Author: blockcitynews

Many of the main players in blockchain and crytpocurrency arenas are focusing on cryptocurrency within a regulatory environment.

We would have thought that there would be a number of companies that would create cryptocurrency products with as little regulation as possible.

But this does not seem to be the case, perhaps because so many of the outfits receiving coverage are from mainstream regulated companies. But it seemed like blockchain related systems would give people a chance to start afresh without so much regulation.

Instead companies are positively rushing to be regulated in the blockchain space, probably because so many of those doing work in the area are lawyers, accountants etc.

Most recently we hear of a conference in Gibraltar that will “gather economists and lawyers from Europe to discuss the core innovation of cryptocurrencies … in order to explain its potential as well as the challenges that it presents to traditional regulatory model.”

The conference is being held in Gibraltar on May 9th and instead of questioning regulation it seems to be focusing on all the ways that regulation can be accommodated and advanced. The idea is to build regulation in from the ground up.

Regulation is necessary simply because so many people are invested in it and want it to occur. But that does not mean that it is an ultimate or immediate good. The idea is to regulate as a last resort, not as an immediate priority.

But that is not what is happening at the moment. The big companies are hauling regulatory authority with them for the very beginning as a foundational element rather than a necessary – and sometimes unnecessary – evil.

Mike Stevens and Mark Patton will work together to lead Columbus’s Smart City effort. Columbus won the Department of Transportation 2016 Smart City Challenge and secured $40 million in Federal Funding plus other private and public funding.

Altogether, the city has secured an additional $277 million in additional resources, which comes to a total of $417 million to make Columbus a testing ground for the latest intelligent transportation systems.

In total, Columbus expects to raise up to $1 billion for its Smart City effort by the end of 2020 when it must report back to the Department of Transportation.

Dark Markets are getting bigger as estimated in a 2012 paper by Nicolas Christin, a computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Christin is updating his study.

He is not taken aback by the growth of dark markets since Silk Road’s demise. “I want to emphasize that it is unclear that the number of listings is a good proxy for economic activity. One might list a large number of items and yet not carry out that many sales,” he is quoted as saying.

And he added, “Law enforcement is only part of the risk for people who sell drugs. The bigger risk and more frightening risk is not someone kicking down the door to arrest you, but someone kicking down the door to kill you and steal your stash.”

The dark web is hidden and not accessible by a normal web browser. Websites on Tor are samples of dark web sites. And the dark web seems to be moving beyond drugs. OpenBazaar for instance lets vendors sell anonymously without centralization. Trade is via bitcoin.

This market is abetted by many so-called criminal activities. After the spasmodic quasi-legalization of marijuana, so much remains illegal. And thus the growth of Dark markets.

Japan is trying to ease tensions with Russia by offering to build a common cryptocurrency. The idea is to settle a fight between the two countries over Kuril islands.

Located in the north-east of Japan, the Islands are currently under Russian control. The economy is supported by fishing trade and minerals.

But recently Japan and Russia agreed to economic arrangements for the islands in dispute. And now Japan has offered a common currency in the area. Moscow is reviewing the proposals.

Japan is changing its attitude on bitcoin and Russia has moved away from criminalizing bitcoin as well. There are opportunities for the two countries to work together on a common currency, the first of its type for either country.

Recently two companies buttressed their cloud offerings with blockchain solutions. Both Microsoft and IBM are now offering blockchain to clients.

IBM recently offered IBM Blockchain to help clients with blockchain networks. Microsoft made BaaS available to its cloud based Azure service. Microsoft’s BaaS will work with many different systems. One of the most popular is Ethereum.

IBM is a member of Hyperledger run by a steering committee that includes IBM. Microsoft is not part of Ethereum and has no say.

IBM and Microsoft are both IT leaders but these are new days. It is possible that having a say in your cloud parameters is a good deal more important than simply participating. Time will tell.

Edgeless.io is in the casino business. It will provide a 0% house edge.

Tomas Draksas, professional gambler and co-founder of Edgeless.io was quoted as saying: ‘We want people to have a good time in Edgeless casino so it was important for us to address this problem of trust. We want to create a place where gamblers can be confident that game play is fair and transparent and of course that the odds are the best offered.”

The blockchain-based casino will give verification throughout the game. Edgeless hopes its 0% house edge and blockchain verification will provide it with a winning edge.

Once the casino is running, Edgeless intends to offer new games including sports betting. Edgeless was started last year Blockchain and gambling enthusiasts in Germany and Lithuania.

Cryptocurrencies are going up in value quickly – and in large amounts. For instance the price of ether, fueling the blockchain platform ethereum, rose to all-time highs this week. It surged to 42.89, after rising to previous record levels early in the week.

There have been continued gains in trading volume as well. Part of it may have to do with a brief downturn in bitcoin prices after the SEC decided against a bitcoin ETF.

The SEC would have had to change rules to allow the ETF and chose not to do so. But cryptocurrencies generally have been up hard in the past weeks, by well over $4 billion – by well over 4.5 billion as a matter of fact.

According to CoinMarketCap, trading volumes have just exploded. Dash has climbed to over $70. Monero is up to $18. Older digital currencies are up too.

The idea is that cryptocurrencies generally are gaining exposure. Such a small percentage of currencies are crypto that even a mild addition can be a big gain.

Of course, on the other side are plenty of people who believe the CIA had something to do with cryptocurrencies and the first white paper on the subject.

The CIA has been behind Google and Facebook, so why not cryptocurrencies? The CIA may have helped create cryptocurrencies to ensure that central banks have access to their own versions.

At some point then, cryptocurrencies will be taken down so central bank oriented cryptocurrencies can gain center stage. On the other hand, the CIA may find it difficult to destroy private cryptocurrencies.

Too often, as the CIA tries to anticipate trends, it ends up encouraging what it wants to take down. Private cryptocurrencies may be stronger and more durable than the CIA thought – if the CIA was initially involved.

Australia Post has announced partnerships with Alibaba and Blackmores, an Australian natural health company to stop counterfeit food. They will develop a blockchain platform to help trace food.

Australia Post or AusPost is a government entity and the government that does much of the tracking. “We are delighted Alibaba has invited us to create an innovative platform, which will track food from paddock to plate, strengthening the supply chain,” Bob Black of AuPost was quoted as saying.

Audits are part of the process. However one wonders if such auditing has many benefits. The idea is that one either wants to produce bad food or is faking the production. In either case the market can probably do a better job of policing itself than regulatory authorities.

Once again we see enormous time, effort and corporate dollars flowing into procedures that assume government has the answers, when it doesn’t.

The central banks of the G20 countries are being urged to study blockchain activities and Smart City applications. The report is from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Cigi).

Cigi is urging the G20 to “hold the key to building an inclusive global digital economy that is auditably secure and transparently accountable to the world’s citizens.”

There are four proposals. The first is a call study the monetary and fiscal policy implications of cryptocurrencies.

The second involves the willingness of the G20 to see if international regulatory regimes can become more efficient due to blockchain regimes.

The third is the creation of a “global regulatory sandbox” that will test the most promising blockchain use cases.

Finally, the G20 working on blockchain-related issues with other regulatory agencies.

Says Cigi: “The G20 must act now to exercise innovative leadership and engage in thoughtful experimentation. It must commit to developing appropriate multi-stakeholder initiatives that leverage blockchains’ strengths and foster a more inclusive, open, and accountable global economy for all.”

This is cogent and effective if one believes that a primary purpose of blockchain is to enhance regulatory authority.

If the idea is to make regulations more efficient then the proposals are appropriate. But from our point of view, blockchain technology is supposed to help outfits become more privately effective. Regulation has little to do with it.